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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 1061.PDF
Jaguars line up for their public debut. Two two-seaters and a single- seater flew together PARIS WEEK... Show pilot of the week was Bob Hoover of North American Rockwell, who got more people looking at the familar Shrike Commander than had done so for many a year. Hoover's aerobatic routine in the business twin ended with a dead-stick loop, hesitation barrel roll and a side slipped approach and landing. Fantastic—or crazyl Opinions were equally divided programme, well managed by efficient controllers, was main tained at almost full pressure throughout. Anglo-French collaboration in the flesh was the major theme of the flying show. Every bit as important as Concorde was the BAC/Breguet Jaguar: three flew together, two with French pilots and one with a Briton. Notably absent was any participation by American military aircraft—machines which in the past have lent so much of the interest at Le Bourget. America was, of course, impressively present at the show with its "Countdown Apollo" display (spaceflight being more or less the preserve of television), and by the new shape in air trans port vehicles, the Boeing 747—all urged along to Paris by the US Government's Department of Commerce. Amid the noise and commotion there was one act which everyone stopped to watch. Many people had learned to recognise the slender high-wing silhouette of the North American Shrike Commander, not just as an efficient con ventional light twin but as Bob Hoover's latest mount for his own distinctive brand of precision flying. In his five-minute routine the Shrike did just about everything except the simple task for which it was primarily intended—flying straight and level from one place to another. After lift-off Hoover would pull straight up into a barrel roll; after that followed eccentrically yawing passes, loops, hestitation rolls, one-wheel touch-and-goes interspersed with an upward barrel roll and loops. The final manoeuvre—which, if nothing else, did at least prove that the Shrike was a clean and strong aeroplane—was a dive to Vne within 100ft or so of the runway, then chop and feather both engines and pull up into a loop. After that, and still with both engines stopped, Hoover went into a hestitation eight-point barrel roll to a position on base leg just nicely high for a heavily side-slipped approach. A superbly judged routine. Very few of the other demonstration pilots of business aircraft thought the performance safe or constructive— there was genuine fear that it might encourage others less skilled to have a go (as has happened with disastrous consequences on several occasions). French officialdom, it reported, had taken a very close look at the routine, imposed several restrictions,, and still was not altogether happy. The organisers, on the other hand, honoured Hoover as Pilot of the Week. Aerobatics in more classic types of aircraft were shown in fine style by the Beagle Pup-150 and new Bulldog trainer, and by their new rival from Germany, the Messerschmitt- Bolkow Monsun, wlhidh flew very nicely. The sailplane- inspired Sportavia RF5 two-seater also demonstrated limited aerobatic capabilities. Still at the light end of the scale was
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